Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

RUSSIA
Mice.
□ne.
maims-
i;;ive
Llsious
RUSSIAN EMPIRE.]
included, with powers which are the more extensive as they
are totally undefined. There is also in each government
a special gendarmerie under the “chief of gendarmes,
who usually is also the head of the “ third section . of the
Imperial Chancery. The name of the third section has
been recently abolished, but the institution still continues.
It has charge of the secret police of the state, and has
most varied functions, such as the arrest of supposed
political offenders, their exile to Siberia, the delivery of
separation papers to spouses desiring divorce, and so on.
Several governments are placed under special governors-
general, whom the recent law on the “state of siege”
invests with almost dictatorial powers.
The higher administration is represented by the emperor,
who unites the supreme legislative, executive, and judicial
powers, and is surrounded by four distinct councils—the
committee of ministers, the council of the empire, the
senate, and the Holy Synod. The ministers, who are con¬
sidered as executing the will of the czar, and are nominated
by him, are invested with very extensive powers; their
circulars for the interpretation of laws have greater weight
than the laws themselves. The council of. the empire,
which consisted in 1884 of 64 members, nominated by the
emperor, besides the ministers and several members of the
imperial family, is a consultative body for matters of legis¬
lation. The senate, also nominated by the emperor, has
two distinct functions. Seven “departments” of it are
administrative; they promulgate the laws, examine the acts
of governors, adjudicate in their conflicts with zemstvos,
and, in theory, can make remonstrances to the emperor,—
in fact they merely register and promulgate laws. Two
other “ departments ” are courts of cassation. A special
department, reinforced by representatives of nobility, pro¬
nounces judgment in political cases. The Holy Synod,
consisting of metropolitans and bishops who sit there in
turn, has the superintendence of religious affairs.
The judicial system introduced in 1864 was conceived in a
very liberal spirit, which, unfortunately, has not been main¬
tained. Thus a “preliminary instruction,” made by the “third
section” in political cases, ?4or by the police, has been subse¬
quently introduced. The “judges of instruction,” irremovable by
law, have not yet been nominated, their functions being discharged
by substitutes entirely dependent upon the ministry. Elective
justices of the peace decide in all cases involving less than .500
roubles, or less than six months’ imprisonment. Their decisions
can bo brought by appeal before the district gathering of the jus
tices of the peace, and thence before the senate. All criminal
cases involving severer penalties are tried by juries, whose verdicts
can be set aside only by a court of cassation, but are not respected
in cases having a so-called “ political ” aspect. Political, offences
are tried by tribunals composed ad hoc. Civil cases in which more
than 500 roubles are involved are tried by courts of justice, with
appeal to chambers of justice.
In 1879 in European Russia,—exclusive of six Lithuanian and
White Russian governments,—42,530 persons were tried before the
courts, and 59,600 before the justices of the peace, the convictions
being respectively 27,397 and 36,742. The aggregate number .of
condemnations pronounced in 1882 was 46,018 in European Russia,
that is, 5‘9 condemned in each 10,000; only 4836 of .them were
women. On January 1, 1882, 93,108 persons were in jail; 530,307
men and 66,073 women (the latter with 30,769 children) were
imprisoned during the year, while 625,280 prisoners were, liberated
or exiled, and on January 1, 1883, the number of prisoners in
jail (excluding those of Saghalin and Caucasus) was 97,337. More
than 20,000 are annually transported to Siberia.
The empire is divided for administrative purposes into govern
ments (guberniya) or territories {oblast), of which there are .50 in
European Russia and 10 in Poland. Each government, or territory,
is divided into eight to fifteen districts {uyezd). The Asiatic
dominions are divided into one lieutenancy {namyestnitchestvo),
that of Caucasia, and four general governments—Turkestan,
Stepnoye (Kirghiz Steppes), East Siberia, and Amur. They com¬
prise thirty-three governments and territories, besides a few dis¬
tricts {okrug, otdyel) in Transcaucasia and the Transcaspian
region, regarded almost as separate governments. In Siberia the
governors and governors-general are assisted by councils which
have a consultative voice. The Baltic provinces have some
peculiar institutions. Finland is a separate state, having its own
71
finances, army, and representative institutions, with limited rights,
but its ministers of war and the exterior are those of the empire,
and its institutions are not always respected by the emperor.
The emperor is not the head of the church, all decisions in theo- The
logical matters having to be given by.the Synod. His influence, church,
however, is very great, as the nomination of the bishops rests with
him. In 1882 there were in Russia 40,569 Orthodox churches
and about 14,000 chapels, with 37,318 priests, 7009 deacons, and
45,395 singers. There were also 6752 monks and 3957 aspirants,
4945 nuns and 13,803 female aspirants. The church budget was
18,974,887 roubles in 1884. The monasteries and churches are
possessed of great wealth, including 2950 square miles of land (a
territory greater than that of Oldenburg), an invested capital of
22,634,000 roubles, an annual subsidy of 408,000 roubles, from
Government, and a very great number of inns, shops, printing
establishments, burial grounds, &c., with, whole towns covering an
aggregate area of 1'1 h square miles. Their total annual revenue is
estimated at 9,000,000 roubles.
Much still remains to be done for the diffusion of the first Educa-
elements of a sound education throughout the empire ; unhappily tion.
the endeavours of private persons in this field and of the zemstvos
are for political reasons discouraged by the Government. There
are seven universities—Dorpat, Kazan, Kharkoff, Kieff, Moscow,
Odessa, and St Petersburg—to which may be added those of
Warsaw and Helsingfors. In 1883 the seven Eussian universities
had 605 professors and 10,528 students, and there were 81 pro¬
fessors and 1228 students at Warsaw. The standard of teaching
on the whole is high, and may be compared to that of the German
universities. The students are hardworking, and.generally very
intelligent. Mostly sons of poor parents, they live in extreme
poverty, supporting themselves chiefly by translating and by tutorial
work. Severe measures have been taken in 1885 in regard to the
universities. Explicit regulations for the interpretation of science
have been issued, and restrictions laid upon the. teaching of philo¬
sophy and natural science generally ; comparative legislation has
been excluded from the programmes ; teaching in Russian (instead
of German) has been ordered at Dorpat. The students are placed
under rigorous regulations in regard to their life outside the uni¬
versity. About 950 students in theological academies and 2500
in higher technical schools must be added to the above.
The state of secondary education still leaves very much to be
desired. There were in 1883 180 gymnasiums and progymnasiums
for boys in European Russia, and 24 in the Asiatic dominions, and
27 and 10 respectively for girls ; there, were also. 73 real
schools in European Russia and 8 in the Asiatic dominions, and 48
normal schools in Russia and 10 in the Asiatic dominions, lo
these must be added the 14,800 pupils in 53 theological seminaries,
and about 3000 in various secondary schools. The steady tendency
of Russian society towards increasing the number of secondary
schools, where instruction would be based on .the study of the
natural sciences, is checked by Government in favour of the
classical gymnasiums. The aggregate number of schools for second¬
ary instruction in European Russia in 1882 was 456 for boys and
384 for girls, with 107,930 male and 79,625 female scholars. Of
these, 355 schools (45,303 boys and 3199 girls) give professional
education. . t> ■
For primary instruction there were in 1882 m European Russia
proper 28,329 schools, with 1,177,504 male and 362,471 female
pupils. Of the 6,231,160 roubles expended on primary schools
only 747,772 roubles were contributed by Government, the
remainder being supplied by the zemstvos (2,512,113 roubles), by
municipalities, or by private persons. Sunday schools and public
lectures are virtually prohibited. .
A characteristic feature of the intellectual movement. in Russia
is its tendency to extend to women the means of receiving higher
instruction. The gymnasiums for girls are both numerous and
good. In addition to these, notwithstanding Government opposi-
tion, a series of higher schools, where careful instruction in natuial
and social sciences is given, have been opened in the chief cities
under the name of “Pedagogical Courses.’5 At St Petersbuig a
women’s medical academy, the examinations of which were even
more searching than those of the ordinary academy (especially as
regards diseases of women and children), was opened, but. alter
about one hundred women had received the degree of M. D., it has
been suppressed by Government. In several university towns
there are also free teaching establishments for women, supported
by subscription, with programmes and examinations equal to those
of the universities. In 1882 the students numbered 914 at bt
Petersburg, about 500 at Moscow, and 389 at Kazan. . . o •
The natural sciences are much cultivated in Russia, especially Scienti c
during the last twenty years. Besides the Academy of Science, the societies.
Moscow Society of Naturalists, the Mineralogical Society, the
Geographical Society, with its Caucasian and Siberian branches, the
archaeological societies and the scientific societies of the Baltic pro¬
vinces, all of which are of old and recognized standing, there have
lately sprung up a series of new societies in connexion with each
university, and their serials are yearly growing in importance, as